SHORTLANDS WITHOUT SHIPPING SERVICES
The Nila Habour in Shortland Islands. Photo credit: SIBC.
Shortland Islands is without a shipping service after commercial ship operators did not apply to provide services to the islands under the Government’s Franchise shipping scheme.
A Ronnie Kidoe from Shortland Islands told SIBC News recently, shipping companies are not interested to provide services to Shortland Islands.
“I’ve attended a Central Tender Board (CTB) meeting in which they’ve opened applications for providing services to the uneconomical routes and I’ve discovered that not one shipping operator has applied to serve Shortland islands.”
Ronnie Kidoe, who is from Shortland Islands himself, says shipping companies do not want to provide services to Shortland because of passenger’s attitudes towards paying for freight and obeying rules onboard when travelling.
Mr Kidoe says he calls on people to stop such practices to encourage Shipping companies to provide shipping routes to Shortland Islands.